Sportsman{40 s hood seat

ABSTRACT

Protective apparel providing a cushion element for seating comfort. A water-resistant, hooded garment is designed to provide protection for the wearer from coldness and dampness. Long sides extend downwardly from a hood to provide a body wrap for a person covering legs, arms and head as well as the main body torso. A cushion element which is coupled with the garment is disposed at the center back of the garment to present a comfortable seat. Retaining structure in the form of a flap which is coupled with the seat element snaps to hold the garment in position against the element when not in use while still allowing the cushion element to be utilized. A handle is provided external to the flap for ease in carrying.

United States Patent [1 1 Lankford [451 Sept. 17, 1974 SPORTSMAN'S HOODSEAT [76] Inventor: Benson E. Lankford, 1517 S. Osage, Independence, Mo.

22 Filed: July 5,1973

21 Appl. No: 376,314

[52] U.S. Cl. 2/84 [51] Int. Cl A4ld [58] Field of Search 2/69, 69.5,84, 87, 88, 2/89 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,228,034l/l966 Grove 2/69.5 3,597,764 8/1971 Povey 2/69 Primary Examiner-RichardJ. Scanlan, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or Firm Lowe, Kokjer, Kircher,

Wharton & Bowman [5 7] ABSTRACT Protective apparel providing a cushionelement for seating comfort. A water-resistant, hooded garment isdesigned to provide protection for the wearer from coldness anddampness. Long sides extend downwardly from a hood to provide a bodywrap for a person covering legs, arms and head as well as the main bodytorso. A cushion element which is coupled with the garment is disposedat the center back of the garment to present a comfortable seat.Retaining structuredn the form of a flap which is coupled with the seatelement snaps to hold the garment in position against the element whennot in use while still allowing the cushion element to be utilized. Ahandle is provided external to the flap for ease in carrying.

3 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures SPORTSMAN'S HOOD SEAT This invention relatesto wearing apparel for protecting a person from inclimate weather whileproviding a cushion seat for the person.

It has heretofore been the practice of the outdoorsman or sportsenthusiast to equip himself with rain gear, blankets and wraps forwarmth, and separate seating pads or a stadium seat for seating comfort.Such paraphernalia is cumbersome and inconvenient to use.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide apparelwhich shields the wearer from dampness and cold while furnishing acushion for comfortable seating.

Another object of the invention is to provide such apparel which can beeasily secured in compact form and used as a cushion alone when weatherpermits.

Still another one of the objects of my invention is to provide apparelas described in the foregoing objects which can be easily transported bythe user.

It is one of the aims of this invention to provide apparel as describedin the foregoing objects having a cushion element which retains itsposition relative to the rest of the apparel when the wearer stands sothat the wearer may reseat himself on the cushion without hindrance.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the apparel of the present inventionwith the water-resistant garment disposedin its folded position securedagainst the cushion element;

FIG. 2 is a front-elevational view of the apparel in its unfoldedposition illustrating the structure of the protective garment and itsrelation to the cushion element and retaining structure;

FIG. 3 is a rear-elevational view of the apparel shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a rear perspective view of the apparel worn by a person in astanding position;

FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of the apparel worn by a person in astanding position;

FIG. 6 is a side perspective view of the apparel worn by a person in aseated position;

FIG. 7 is a front perspective view of the apparel worn by a person in aseated position;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of the cushion elementillustrating the preferred manner of securing the garment thereto; and

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 99 of FIG. 8.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1-3, 8 and 9, the protective apparel of thepresent invention is designated generally by the numeral 10. Apparel 10comprises a cush ion element designated generally by the numeral 12 anda water-resistant garment designated generally by the numeral 14.Cushion element 12 comprises a relatively thick layer of yieldablematerial 16 which is preferably foam rubber and an outer cover 18 whichencases the material 16 and is preferably a water-proof vinyl or theequivalent lntegral with cushion element 12 and extending away from thelatter is a flap retaining structure 20 that is movable through an arcof approximately 180 from the folded position shown in FIG. 1 to theunfolded position as illustrated in FIG. 2 for purposes to be made clearhereinafter. A pair of snap fasteners 22 disposed on structure 20 matewith complemental snap retainers 24 on seat element 12 to secure theflap structure in its folded position.

Garment 14 comprises a hooded portion 26 adapted to be disposed over awearers head and an integral body wrap 28 of a general block-Uconfiguration which extends downward from the hood to provide protectionfor the legs, arms and torso of the wearer. Garment 14 is secured tocushion element 12 by stiching as indicated at 30 in FIGS. 8 and 9 alongthe two sides of the element 12 which are adjacent structure 20. Thegarment 14 is also stitched around the periphery of structure 20. Ahandle 32 is disposed at approximately the line of juncture of structure20 and cushion element 12 to provide convenient means for carryingapparel 10 when the latter is in its folded position.

Referring additionally to FIGS. 4-7, it is seen that a person may weargarment 14 to obtain complete protection from dampness and cold whilestill being seated on cushion element 12. The provision of flapstructure 20 coupled with cushion element 12 provides a backrest for aperson when seated on a chair or bench such as 34. Furthermore,structure 20 greatly increases the area which may be utilized to securegarment 14 thereby distributing any forces which would tend to tear thegarment over a greater area and greatly reducing the possibility oftearing. Still another advantage of having the integral flap structure20 is that, by virtue of the fact that this structure is movable throughan arc of approximately 180, when a person stands up, as indicated inFIG. 4, structure 20 will move through an arc of approximately to avoidany strain on the garment as the wearer rises to a standing position.Manifestly, this would not be the case if garment 14 were secureddirectly to cushion element 12 around the periphery of the latter. Thiswould cause considerable strain to be placed on the garment whenever aperson began to stand, because the forward edge of the garment wouldstill be under the legs of the person as the rear of the torso is raisedfrom the seat.

Finally, when weather permits, the garment 14 may be completely foldedto cooperate with cushion element 12 in presenting a seat for a person.To this end, structure 20 is utilized to sandwich the garment betweenthe structure and cushion element 12 to place the garment in acompletely enclosed relationship where it is not subject to catching onprotruding objects and being torn.

The U-shaped configuration of body wrap portion 28 of garment 14 keepsthe garment from beneath the wearers feet and yet allows body wrap 28 tobe utilized most effectively to completely protect the arms, legs andtorso of the wearer. In the preferred form of the invention, garment 28is of sufficient length to also cover the feet of a wearer as indicatedin the drawings.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. A protective apparel comprising:

a generally rectangular cushion element providing a seat for a person;

a retaining structure comprising a generally rectangular flap coupledwith said element and movable through an arc of from a position inside-byside relationship to said element;

means for holding said structure in side-by-side relationship with saidelement;

said element and said structure cooperating to present a generallyrectangular base member;

a generally planar U-shaped water resistant garment coupled with saidbase member along three sides of the latter, the fourth side being freeof attachments,

said garment presenting opposed parallel legs of a length such that whenthe garment is secured to said base member along the inner periphery ofthe garment said legs project beyond said fourth side,

whereby said garment may be wrapped around the legs and body of a personseated on said cushion and folded into the area between said element andsaid structure to be held in place when said means is holding saidstructure and said element.

2. The invention of claim 1, wherein said structure is for a wearer ofthe apparel.

1. A protective apparel comprising: a generally rectangular cushionelement providing a seat for a person; a retaining structure comprisinga generally rectangular flap coupled with said element and movablethrough an arc of 180* from a position in side-by-side relationship tosaid element; means for holding said structure in side-by-siderelationship with said element; said element and said structurecooperating to present a generally rectangular base member; a generallyplanar U-shaped water resistant garment coupled with said base memberalong three sides of the latter, the fourth side being free ofattachments, said garment presenting opposed parallel legs of a lengthsuch that when the garment is secured to said base member along theinner periphery of the garment said legs project beyond said fourthside, whereby said garment may be wrapped around the legs and body of aperson seated on said cushion and folded into the area between saidelement and said structure to be held in place when said means isholding said structure and said element.
 2. The invention of claim 1,wherein said structure is provided with a handle secured thereto at theline of juncture of the structure with the element to facilitatecarrying of the apparel.
 3. The invention of claim 1, wherein saidgarment presents a hood and a body wrap extending downward from the hoodto provide protection from the weather for a wearer of the apparel.